Scars, Secrets, and Shadows
by hsmfan0688
Summary: Sequel to "One Fine Day." After being abducted with his friends, Ryan Evans is trying to cope with the past, while moving on with Chad and the other wildcats. However, scars from his past prove that moving on is easier said than done. Chyan
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey everyone, I'm back! I know it's been forever since I last posted a story, but I want to thank all of you for your patience. I also wanted to say thanks to those of you who keep adding my story to your favorites. I really appreciate it and that is what made me keep writing and work on this sequel. This is a sequel to my story "One Fine Day," so if you haven't read that you may want to go do that so this story will make a little more sense.

This story takes place about two months after the events of "One Fine Day." Unlike my other story, this story is going to be told in mainly Ryan's POV. There will be some exceptions, but mostly his POV. It also functions outside of HSM3, because I worked on it before that came out. Thanks a lot and I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from High School Musical, and I own none of the characters.

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"**Scars, Secrets, and Shadows": Chapter 1**

**Ryan's POV: **

_Another morning, another day at school, I thought as I walked out of my room and closed the door behind me. I slowly walked down the stairs, intentionally trying to take my time. I noticed this morning was a little strange. I didn't hear Sharpay yelling for me to hurry up, or pass my mother in the hallway. I also didn't hear any noise whatsoever from any of the help. _

_I soon began to notice things definitely weren't right when I got to foot of the stairs. The room around me faded away to black nothingness. Suddenly I found myself in the hallways of East High. The halls were dark and deserted. I was the only one at school. _

"_Hello? Is anyone here?" I said as I continued to walk down the hallway. "Shar? Chad? Gabriella?" _

"_Ryyyyaannnn…." I heard someone whisper from the end of the hall way._

"_Who said that? Is that you sis? Chad? If this is a joke it isn't funny, guys," I continued as I approached the end of the hallway. "Troy? Gabriella? Come on guys, cut it out," I finished as I cautiously inched closer to the end of the hallway. I got to the end of a row of lockers and prepared to look around the corner of the hallway. Suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and spun me around._

"_Oh my God!!" I screamed as I turned around and faced Chad. "What are you doing??? You scared me half to death…"_

"_You have to get out of here Ryan," he said quickly as he grabbed my hand and started leading me back down the hallway._

"_Why? What's going on?" I asked as we started to run further._

"_He's here and we have to hurry before…" Chad said but was interrupted by someone yelling at the end of the hallway. _

"_Did you miss me Ryan?!?" An all too familiar voice called out to me._

"_No….no it can't be," I said with horror as I turned around and looked at the end of the hall. There, at the end of the hallway stood Bruce, with the same awful smirk that always made me shudder. _

_With my back towards Chad I started backing away from that end of the hallway. I quickly turned around and was startled to find Trent and Mitch holding Chad between them._

"_Chad!!" I screamed before running towards them._

"_No don't worry about me….just get out of here!! Run!!" _

"_No Chad I'm not going to leave you….what if" I said before being knocked to the floor. My sternum hit the floor with a violent thud, causing me to gasp for breath. I quickly turned on my back to look above me. I was shocked to see Kyle standing there._

"_You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he said with an evil grin on his face._

"_What are you doing here? Chad, you've got to help me…I" I said as I turned around to look at him, only to find that he was gone. "Chad? What have you done with him?" I yelled as I turned to look back at Kyle who was now side by side with Bruce. _

"_Poor little Ryan. He's all alone with nowhere to run," Kyle said as Bruce laughed and grabbed my ankle on the ground. I screamed as he drug me closer to the two of them._

"_No! No!! Stop please!! Don't!!" I continued screaming as he picked me up and slammed me into the lockers. _

"_Alright kid, you take the first swing. When you're finished he's mine," Bruce smiled smugly._

"_My pleasure," Kyle smiled as he pulled back his fist. Tears rolled down my face, as I slammed my eyes shut and braced for the first blow._

I suddenly shot up from bed and woke up. I was dripping sweat and there were still some tears on my face. I looked at both of my pillows, which were both soaking wet. I continued to gasp for breath when suddenly my bedroom door flew open.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" Sharpay asked as she rushed to the side of my bed. "You're soaking wet. Did you have another nightmare?"

"Oh it was awful Sharpay...." I said as I buried my face into her shoulder and hugged her.

"You know in normal circumstances, I would never let you mess up this Gucci robe with your tears," she said, causing me to chuckle a little in between sniffles. After a few more minutes passed I let go of Sharpay and laid my head back down.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "I could stay on the couch right at the foot of ……"

"Shar," I interrupted, "I'll be fine. Go back to sleep, ok? I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, if you're sure you're going to be okay…" she continued as she stood up.

"I'm fine….good night sis," I said as she walked to the doorway.

"Good night little brother," she said as she walked out and closed the door.

I eased back in to bed and closed my eyes. "Ugh…school tomorrow….I have to….get….to….sleep," I said to myself as my eyes slowly began to close.

* * *

After Sharpay left the room I could never manage to get back to sleep consistently, but I didn't want to disturb her anymore so I stayed up the rest of the night checking facebook on my laptop and got a head start on getting ready for school early the next morning. I didn't say too much to Sharpay or anyone else at home for that matter. Since I was already up and ready, I just stayed in my room and laid on the bed, until Sharpay called for me to leave with her.

She was pretty surprised that it didn't take her screeching for me to get me downstairs, like it normally did. I left my room with my messenger bag the first time she called for me. The ride to school was pretty silent too. Sharpay asked me a few questions about the upcoming musical, or some new gossip, but I responded with a short answer and then the ride went back to silence.

We finally arrived to school about ten minutes early, and I looked at the school like I did every school day. Today, however, I shuddered remembering my nightmare the night before. For some reason walking in the East High hallways bothered me, despite all the people that would be there.

"Ryan? Are you coming?" Sharpay asked, as I was snapped out of my thoughts. I had been staring at the school and didn't realize I was still sitting in the car looking at the school while Sharpay was out of the car.

"Uhh….yeah. Sorry, Shar," I said as I grabbed my stuff and quickly got out of the car and followed Sharpay into school. I hated school so much. I used to love it, but ever since that god awful day, nothing's been the same. Everyone treats us all differently now, especially me. Half of the people who didn't know I existed now all pity me and feel sorry for me, and the others that picked on me, now just have more ammunition. Of course they don't do it to my face, because I have Sharpay, Troy, Chad, and everyone, but I know it goes on.

A few more minutes passed while we were walking to the door, and I continued to stay buried in thought. Sharpay was talking to me, I assume, but I wasn't really listening. After a couple more seconds, we reached the door and Sharpay entered in her usual dramatic fashion.

As we made our way down the halls, I heard the usual whispers, but also ignored them like usual. Despite how different everything was, I was an Evans and I couldn't seem bothered. It was true that the act was definitely taking it's toll on me, but I refused to let it show.

I finally reached my locker and briefly parted with Sharpay in order to retrieve my books. We silently agreed to meet at her locker before homeroom, like normal. She continued down the hall and I slowly opened my locker and started unpacking some books out of my messenger bag. After I got all my books I closed my locker and jumped when I saw Chad leaning against the locker looking at me.

"Jeez!!" I said as I backed away from him a little bit. "You scared me."

"Sorry, Ry. I didn't mean to. Your sister said you were still here and wanted to know 'what was taking so long'," he said as he imitated her voice, causing me to laugh a little bit.

"It's ok. So I missed not hanging out with you last night. I was bored to death."

"So was I!! I would much rather have been with you as opposed to baby sitting my little brothers. Trust me," he said as he winked and grinned.

My relationship with Chad was probably the one thing that made school bearable, besides my friends. The one good thing that came out of our experience was that we realized how crazy we were about each other. However, on the flipside the experience made it really hard for me to be as close and open with him as I wanted to be, but the great thing about him was he understood that.

We weren't very public about our relationship. I knew he wasn't ready yet for anybody besides his close friends and family to know about us. He definitely didn't need all that stress and attention on top of everything else that had happened. And he would probably get nothing but stress from the majority of the student body if they knew about him being gay, let alone him in a relationship with _me_.

We continued talking a few more minutes, before Troy came up to us.

"What's up man?" he said to Chad as he playfully shoved him into the locker. "Hey Ryan, how are you buddy?" he said as he turned to me.

"I'm ok, I guess. I'd be better if I wasn't at school," I joked.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man. Hey! Speaking of school, did you hear there's some new kid in our class?" Troy asked us.

"No," Chad and I replied together. "What's the kid's name?" Chad asked.

"I don't know, but Darbus said I should be in class to make him feel welcome. Whatever that means," he said rolling his eyes.

"Hey! Speaking of you talking, I want to talk too," Chad replied smartly, causing me to laugh hysterically. It was hilarious watching Troy's face show a pure look of disgust.

"Are you busy after school, Ryan?"

"Yea, I have stupid counseling again today," I said a little embarrassed.

"Dude, don't be embarrassed," Troy said. "Gabriella had to go too and…"

"Yea and so did I," Chad said quickly as he rubbed my shoulder.

"Yea, but you two didn't have to go as long as I do. It's like they think I'm a freaking psycho or something. I'm fine and…"

"Ryan….." Chad said as he looked at me with those knowing and understanding eyes.

"I'm ok. Sure they were sick, twisted psychos, but who cares?? If I say that I'm….." I said getting angry, before Chad quickly interrupted.

"Let's just not worry about it, ok. How about if I take you after school, and then we go see a movie?"

"Okay, that sounds good."

"Good." Chad said as I closed my locker and the three of us headed down the hallway. I looked toward the far end of the hallway and saw Sharpay walking towards us.

"Ryan, what took you? I was waiting literally all day and…"

"Oh no, how terrible! Heaven forbid you wait for two seconds!" Chad said sarcastically.

"Watch it Danforth or I'll send you to a place where even your hair…."

"Save it princess. If you think…"

"Here they go again, Troy. Maybe we should go ahead to homeroom and leave the children to bicker," I suggested while rolling my eyes.

"Sounds good to me," he said as we walked off and headed to homeroom leaving Chad and Sharpay snapping at each other.

**Chad's POV: **

Sharpay and I continued to fuss and fight until Troy and Ryan started to walk away. Once they were out of sight and gone completely we toned down our little act.

"Okay in all seriousness, Sharpay. Was he okay last night? How did he sleep?"

"Relax, Danforth, and I'll tell you. He woke me up a little after one. He was screaming and yelling. When I walked in, he was covered in sweat and was crying, again."

"I just don't get why he keeps saying he's fine, though. He acts like the nightmares are just coincidental. I hope he knows he can talk to me because…"

"Chad. Calm down. He knows, just give him some time. For some reason he's always felt like he has to be really strong and there for others, but he'll open up some more. Just give him time."

"Okay, well thanks for keeping me updated……ice princess," I added with a smirk.

"No problem, mop head. You treat my brother great and you're a good guy. Just make sure it stays like that or….."

"I know, I know. Or you'll have me sent to a country that's so remote even the CIA can't find me. You know people. Got it," I said as I laughed. "But now we might need to get to class."

"Well, duh," she finished. And with that she spun around and her heels went clicking to homeroom, leaving me in the dust.

"Jeez. Wait up, ice queen!" I yelled after her.

**Ryan's POV: **

After we got to homeroom, Troy and I took our seats. Three more minutes passed before Chad and Sharpay finally entered, and I rolled my eyes as both of them took their seats on opposite sides of me. I turned over and just looked at Chad with a fake look of disgust.

"What??" he said innocently.

"Nice arguments…….real cute."

"You know you think I'm sexy when I argue," he laughed.

"Yea, about as sexy as a three year old can be," I said as I stuck out my tongue.

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm…." he started before being interrupted by Mrs. Darbus who walked in the room.

"Quiet class. I apologize for my tardiness, but I was walking out new student here. We have a new student who is joining us today." She looked outside the door and motioned for whoever was out there come in. My eyes grew wide and my jaw drop when I saw who walked in the room. "Class I'd like you to meet Kyle Robertson."

**A/N: Reviews are welcome and much appreciated! Enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Okay so I know I kind of left off on a cliff hanger…sorry. So I figured I would update chapter two a little quicker so I didn't leave anyone hanging. Thanks to everyone who added me to their author alert and story alert list. It was really encouraging to open my emails and find tons and tons of people who added me….so thanks I really appreciate that!! Anyway, here's chapter two. I hope you like it!!

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"**Scars, Secrets and Shadows": Chapter 2**

**Ryan's POV: **

I just sat there in my desk and stared in shock. I kept replaying the words out of Mrs. Darbus' mouth over and over again in my head. _'I'd like to welcome a new student, Kyle….' _It was like being in the nightmare all over again only this time, closing my eyes wasn't making him go away. There he stood before me, with his dark, raven colored hair, and tall stature. He was the boy the made my freshmen and sophmore years of high school a living hell. Everyone knew it…..well, almost everyone, I thought to myself as I looked at Chad to the left of me.

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts by Chad, who had apparently been whispering to me ever since Mrs. Darbus called Kyle's name.

"Hey, Ry….are you okay? You look like something's bothering you," he asked with genuine concern on his face. I guess I didn't realize that I looked upset as I truly felt.

"Mr. Danforth! Mr. Evans! If you'd kindly remember this is a classroom, and I was in the middle of speaking," Mrs. Darbus snapped.

"Yes ma'am," I replied quickly before looking over at Chad, who rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Now, Kyle you may go take a seat next to Mrs. Evans, on the left side of the room," Mrs. Darbus said as she pointed in Sharpay's direction.

"I'd be happy too," Kyle replied smugly as he threw a quick glance at me and Chad and smirked. I could feel myself getting nervous just because he looked at me.

"Psssst…hey Ryan. Do you know that kid?" Chad asked innocently, which made me feel worse for not telling him who he was.

"Ugh…he's...well…I" I stuttered but, noticed that words weren't coming out.

"Mr. Evans and Mr. Danforth!! I have warned you once. Now I understand you two are both seniors, but if I have to stop my class again because of your disruptions I will separate you two." Without another word said, she continued rambling on about something that should have been important. The problem was I didn't care. Without anymore attempts at conversation, Chad and I sat in silence for the rest of the class.

**Chad's POV: **

"Mr. Evans and Mr. Danforth I have warned you both once. Now I understand you two are both seniors, but if I have to stop my class again because of your disruptions I will separate you two."

_Of course, Chad thought to himself. She waits to interrupt when he was about to answer my question. _I was interrupted from my thoughts by my phone vibrating in my pocket. I carefully slid it out and held it under the desk. I had a new message. I discreetly opened the phone and looked inside. It was from Sharpay.

"We need to talk," the message read. I figured it must have been important, because she rarely sent me texts. In fact the only time she used my number was to find out where Ryan was. I quickly typed a reply. "In the library, during free period."

I waited probably another ten seconds before my phone vibrated again. I flipped it open underneath my desk to see her response. "Fine." After that class seemed to drag even more because I was about to die to leave and talk to Sharpay.

* * *

**Ryan's POV: **

Class seemed to go by in a blur after getting yelled at a second time. Chad had pretty much given up trying to talk about Kyle, but I knew he still wanted to know. I hadn't realized that my face showed as much emotion as he saw. After class, though I was surprised when Chad said he couldn't hang out during free period because he had some kind of meeting with a tutor. That was really strange to me, especially because I expected him to talk to me some more about Kyle. It was also weird that right after class Kyle left and didn't try to talk to me or speak to me. To my horror, I saw him leave with Jason and Kelsi. I assumed they were showing him around the school. I also had a hard time remembering that everyone at East High didn't know things about Kyle like Sharpay and I did.

After I split with Chad, I spoke to Gabriella and then went to my locker to grab some books for free period. I had planned to spend free period where I spent most of my time, in the auditorium. I was going to catch up on some reading and then grab a quick snack before my next class. I was suddenly interrupted out of my thoughts by my locker door being slammed shut. I wasn't shocked, but a little nervous to find Kyle there standing by my locker.

"Long time no see, huh Ryan?"

"I…." I found myself at a loss for words talking to someone who had done so much personal damage to me. My mind kept thinking about my nightmare with Kyle and Bruce side by side. "Wh-what are you doing here?" I managed to stutter out after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"I'm here for school, what else would I be here for?" he said smugly.

"I mean….how did you get here? I thought you moved to Arizona with your family," I said now calming down.

"Oh, yeah about that, well my parents split up so my mom wanted to move back here to be with family, but whatever."

"Well…I'm sorry to…" I tried to offer.

"Save it. I don't need your pity Ryan. You were always the pathetic one who needed pity. Not me, remember? You didn't forget about everything did you?"

"I-I'm not pathetic. I never was. You were. You're the one who…" I started, but was cut off.

"I heard about what happened to you and those two kids. What do you call that? It's not my definition of…" he started evilly, but I interrupted him.

"Don't…you…dare…go there. I am not who I used to be with you," I said through gritted teeth.

"We'll see Ryan because…"

"You think you can just show up here and try to jump back in and ruin my life, you jerk? Things are different. I don't need you or have to listen to you. You're not going to come back into my life and control me like you did!! I've moved on…"

"With that curly headed jock you were talking to earlier?? I saw the two of you and he isn't going to stand in my way…"

"You leave Chad out of this!!! And what's he going to stand in the way of? Us? You're crazy, because we're over and have been for years. And believe me, that's not about to change. So get away from me!!" Kyle looked at me through angry eyes and started to walk off slowly, before turning to speak to me one more time.

"We'll see Ryan, we'll see," he said as he smirked and walked off. The reality of what had just happened set in and then my true emotions began to catch up with me. My anger turned to pain and my eyes began to water. It was unbelievable how quickly everything had happened within the span of a day. I knew one thing for sure: I needed to find Chad.

* * *

**Chad's POV: **

"Okay so you said you wanted to talk Sharpay. Let's talk," I whispered as we sat at a table in the middle of the library. "Is it something about Ryan, because if it is…"

"Danforth!! Calm down!!" she whispered heavily. "My god you're like a lovesick, protective puppy. Now what I have to tell you is important, so keep your mouth closed and listen. Got it?" she asked, slightly angry. I simply nodded.

"Okay, so it's about that nasty little worm for a transfer student. He's'…"

"I knew there was something about him!!" I interrupted.

"Shut up!" she snapped, startling a little bit. "Let me finish, or so help me…"

"Okay, okay, finish. Jeez, drama queen," I said throwing my hands up.

"Okay. So that's Ryan's ex-boyfriend. I'm going to tell you a little bit of who he is, but you need to talk to my brother about most of this and definitely don't let him know I told you. He was Ryan's first boyfriend, per say. They met at this performing arts school. Ryan took dance lessons after school his freshmen year and Kyle was taking some instrumental classes out there. To say this guy was a jerk would be an understatement. I mean Ryan never actually told me, but I know he was physically abusive to my brother. He was emotionally abusive at the least…"

"That bastard! When I get my hands on that son of a….."

"Focus, Chad! Let me finish," she said raising her voice again and pointing her finger in my face. "So he was awful to my brother, but he couldn't really tell anyone but me because he didn't have really any friends at school, and he hadn't told my parents he was gay, yet. I hate him with every ounce of my body and would've taken care of him myself, but he and Ryan eventually broke up and he moved. So in a way the problem took care of itself, but now he's back. Anyway, so that's the story of Ryan and Kyle in a nutshell."

"Whoa….I had no idea," I said, still letting everything she told me sink in, while also trying not to go kill Kyle with my bare hands.

"I mean, he's probably going to tell you. And the two of you definitely need to talk about it, but I'm telling you because I don't know if it's good that this kid is back and messing with my brother after everything that's happened recently."

"You're right. Well, I'm going to talk to him, but thanks for telling me Sharpay, and I'm definitely going to watch out for him," I said as I got up from the table, but was stopped by Sharpay.

"You better because if you don't…"

"I know, I know, all that stuff. Sounds original, but I have to go find him. We only have about thirty more minutes left in free period. See ya later, Sharpay," I said as I grabbed my book bag and headed out the library to find Ryan.

* * *

**Ryan's POV: **

I needed to find Chad. I was definitely a little scared, and really wanted to talk to him. The problem was, I had forgotten to ask where he was going to be. The halls were pretty empty during free period, and I caught myself constantly looking behind me and around me as I was walking down the halls. I already checked the cafeteria and gym and he was no where to be found. I started walking a little faster, because I had the feeling like someone was following me.

As I turned the corner I looked behind me to double check that no one was there. Suddenly I ran into someone and was knocked to the ground. Uncontrollably, I yelled out in fear, and then looked up to see Chad standing in front of me. "Chad? Oh thank God! Where have you been??" I said as I threw my arms around his neck.

"In my meeting, remember? Are you alright? You're shaking. Is something wrong?" he asked as he continued to hold on tight to me.

"I need to talk to you about something. It's about that kid in our homeroom," I started cautiously.

"You can tell me anything, Ry. You know that.," he said gently.

"He…Chad we used to…..umm date. Please don't be mad, I should've told you, it's just that…"

"I could never be mad at you for that…..don't think that, okay?" he said as he let go of me and looked me in the eyes. I was thankful that he was being so supportive and understanding.

"I have to tell you something else, but I'm just not ready to tell you yet. It's going to be hard. Could we maybe talk some more tonight, after counseling?" I started tentatively.

"Of course, Ry. Don't feel pressured to tell me anything. You tell me when you're ready. I just want you to know I'm here for you when you need me to listen, okay?"

"Okay, thanks Chad," I said as I hugged him and he placed a kiss on my forehead. Suddenly, the bell rang and interrupted our moment. "I guess we got to get back to class…..ugh."

"Yea, but don't worry about it. We'll talk some more tonight, okay?" he said as we started walking.

"Okay," I said as we headed down the hall. I knew that I'd be okay the rest of the day, because Chad was in all of my classes. As we headed down the hall and students started exiting all the classrooms my thoughts now focused on the task of telling Chad something that I hadn't told anyone. Tonight couldn't get here fast enough.


End file.
